Save the Date

August 23 - 25, 2018

Shawnee Institute, Shawnee on Delaware, PA

About Peace Corps Connect

The 2018 annual gathering of the Peace Corps community - Peace Corps Connect - will be hosted by National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) and The Shawnee Institute.

“This is going to be a different kind of conference,” says NPCA President & CEO Glenn Blumhorst, of three days focused on how the greater Peace Corps community can move forward the health and wellness as international development missions in the fresh air and surroundings of a gathering in the Pocono Mountains.

“It’s a chance for our community to step back and rethink what the Peace Corps and the international development communities are doing to improve the quality of life in the less-developed communities of the world.” Blumhorst urges everyone to save the dates for the event as the NPCA announces further plans for Peace Corps Connect 2018.

Program Highlights

A keynote speaker at the conference is Alejandro Adler, director of international education at the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Adler advocates the introduction of concepts of well-being in school curricula to advance the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Adler is one of a group of international experts working with the United Nations to implement well-being and happiness as principle goals of international development. Well-being is cited by the U.N. World Health Organization as one of the Sustainable Development Goals health factors in reducing by one-third the premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2030.

A major event at the conference will be a panel discussion among former directors of the Peace Corps, hosted by Carrie Hessler-Radelet, who served as the agency’s director for five years. She left the agency in January 2017 to become president of Project Concern International.

The conference will also recognize winners of the Shriver, Wofford and Ruppe awards and other activities. A pitch competition for social entreprenuers is also planned.

About The Shawnee Institute

The Shawnee Institute is part of the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, a 103-room hotel and golf resort in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains on the banks of the Delaware River.

The resort is owned by Charlie and Ginny Kirkwood. Ginny serves on the NPCA Advisory Council and is NPCA Board Director Emeritus (1995-2001). She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey (1964-1966) and was Peace Corps Thailand country director from 1990-1993. The resort hosted an NPCA annual conference there in 1996 and again in 2000.

The historic resort was built in the 1920s and was the recording home of Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians in the 1940s years for many of their weekly radio programs. In recent years, the Kirkwoods have operated a popular family resort and in addition to NPCA events have, as the resort added the Shawnee Institute, hosted University of Pennsylvania psychology department training for faculty from Harvard and other major universities.

The resort features two golf courses, as well as fishing, canoeing and kayaking on the river, a local craft brewery and a community theater. The small town of Shawnee is surrounded by national forests and other recreation opportunities.

Registration

Registration for the conference will open in February 2018. Be sure to be signed up for our e-newsletter so you don't miss it.

Accommodations

The Shawnee Inn and Resort has blocked all rooms for Peace Corps Connect attendees from August 23-25. Booking will open in January 2018, along with conference registration. 

Alternative arrangements can be made for local hotels in nearby Stroudsburg, PA. Camping is also available for a modest fee at the Shawnee Resort.

Mark Your Calendar by using the links below

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